10 Awesome Movies That Should Be Made Into Video Games

Updated:

28 May 2015

They’re spectacular on the big screen, but can they be great video games, as well?

As gamers, most of us are also fans of cinema. And we’re willing to bet many of you have seen films that made you say, “this would make an awesome video game!”

So why aren’t there video games based on Hollywood blockbusters such as The Avengers and Taken? What missed opportunities!

Join us, then, on a short fantasy trip we’re calling the 10 Awesome Movies That Should Be Made Into Video Games. We won’t be including movie franchises that already have official video game tie-ins for consoles and the pc. Sorry, fans of Aliens and Christopher Nolan’s Batman films. Also, a word of caution: there will be minor movie spoilers in this article, so if you haven’t seen a particular film, feel free to skip on to the next item on the list!

10. John Wick

This one’s a no-brainer.

Ex-hitman John Wick loses his wife to an illness, and all he’s got is a cute puppy – her posthumous gift to him – to remind him of happier days.

Then a Russian gangster breaks into his home and kills the puppy before his eyes.

If that isn’t a great set-up for a game of bloody revenge in the same vein as Max Payne, then we don’t know what is.

The John Wick game will bet a third-person shooter that follows events from the movie, but includes several missions unique to the game. There will be lots of shooting, but hand-to-hand combat and stealth elements will also be present. And of course, bullet time!

One of the most action-packed video game movies that should be made!

Keanu's back and kicking ass!

Martial arts mayhem

9. The Cabin in the Woods

Five friends decide to spend the weekend at a remote cabin in the forest. Then weird things start happening. As the night deepens and bodies begin piling up, one thing becomes clear: there’s more to this cabin than what is apparent.

The Cabin in the Woods has all the makings of an excellent horror game. Imagine a hybrid of survival horror, first-person shooter, and exploration – one that supports multiplayer co-op. As one of the five characters, you’ll explore the cabin and the surrounding woods for clues to what’s going on. Eventually, several choices will be offered to you, which will decide what manner of horrors visit your group.

Those who’ve seen the movie will know that there’s an enormous variety of monsters just waiting for you in the most unexpected of places. This alone makes it one of the best video game movies that should be made.

What big teeth you have!

Anything can be a weapon

8. Inception

Think a third-person action-adventure game like Assassin’s Creed, except you’re not stepping into the Animus to relive someone’s history – you’re stepping into their dreams.

Like in the movie, Dominick Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio’s character) and his team will infiltrate dreams to extract information or plant ideas into their targets’ heads. The game will feature several missions, with your marks including wealthy businessmen, politicians, and the heads of crime families.

And because we’re talking about dreams, those missions will range from the extraordinary to the exotic, with some taking you to space, fantasy landscapes, and Silent Hill-style nightmares. The laws of physics in these worlds are also constantly shifting. Players can perform superpowered stunts, and, depending on their experience points, can “dream up” a wide variety of spectacular weapons.

The possibilities are endless, making Inception one of the best video game movies never made.

Bendy!

So this is what it's like to be a hamster in a hamster wheel!

7. Kung Fu Hustle

Sing is a loser desperate to become a somebody, so he joins the Axe Gang. Predictably, organized crime doesn’t work out for him, and he ends up beaten to within an inch of his life.

Then something amazing happens, and he finally realizes his true purpose in life.

Kung Fu Hustle should be a fighting game, one with large, destructible environments, and characters with moves so powerful they make Ryu look like a chump. Characters can punch each other through walls. A move that has a fighter crashing to the ground with all the force of a meteorite will leave impact craters and can even destroy entire buildings.

Fighters will include Sing; the loudmouthed Landlady and her bendy Landlord husband; Coolie, Donut, and Fairy; the assassins who use musical instruments to kill their targets; the ferocious Beast; and new characters specifically made for the game.

He has seen the light - and it involves breaking skulls

6. Lucy

Yes, its science is hokey, but Lucy would make an incredible superhero game. Think the Batman: Arkham series, only with superpowers like telekinesis, telepathy, super strength, and even time travel.

Lucy is an ordinary woman tricked into becoming a drug mule. Part of her new “work” entails having a bag of drugs sewn into her stomach. But one of her captors strikes her in the abdomen, tearing the bag and flooding her system with the drugs. The result? She becomes able to access the secret powers of the brain, turning herself into a living weapon of mass destruction.

Lucy will gain more powers the more experience points she racks up, which she acquires from defeating bad guys and completing missions. We all know the strange turns the movie takes towards the end of the film, and all this will be represented in the game, as well.

Video game movies would benefit from one based on Lucy!

Seeing reality for what it is

5. Shaun of the Dead

Shaun’s a nobody who spends his days watching TV with his equally loserly best friend – until the undead apocalypse happens, and he’s forced to save everyone he cares about from becoming zombie food.

The survival horror game, Shaun of the Dead, should be similar to Resident Evil 6 and Dead Rising. There are firearms, of course, but most of the time, you’ll have to rely on ordinary objects such as baseball bats and cue sticks. Some, like vinyl records, can be used as projectiles! You’ll also be able to combine items for more powerful weapons.

Shaun of the Dead will be set in a semi open-world environment – one which gradually opens up as you progress. Your main objectives will include rounding up survivors, bringing them to safe havens, and then leading them through zombie-infested streets, tunnels, and buildings to the next main area on the map. Locations will include those featured in the movie, such as sleepy English towns, bars, and a university.

A moment of disorientation

Your zombie-killing squad

4. Inglorious Basterds

Inglorious Basterds would make one heck of a brutal turn-based, squad-based tactical war game.

Imagine controlling Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt’s character) and his team as they go on a variety of dangerous missions across war-torn Europe. The missions’ objectives will range from the straightforward “kill all Nazis in sight” to more complex hostage rescues, assassinations, espionage and infiltration, and the defense of key locations.

It’s like X-Com, only with Nazis instead of aliens, and killing Hitler as one of your major goals. What we’d give for video game movies like Inglorious Basterds!

They're in the Nazi-killing business, and business is good

Gunning down the Nazis

3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

What else should Dawn of the Planet of the Apes be but a real-time strategy game?

The two major factions will include the Apes and the Humans. Each faction will include three sub-factions; for example, the Apes will have one sub-faction whose specialty is cavalry, while another will have stealth and espionage options. Human sub-factions include one with special soldiers armed with powerful firearms, while another uses vehicles such as trucks and jeeps.

The Ape faction will generally have faster development, quicker units, and larger populations, but they’ll do weaker damage and have lower health. On the other hand, the Humans will have more powerful weapons, but their technology requires additional resources that slow down base and unit development, and limit their numbers on the battlefield.

Hero units will have special skills. For instance, Ceasar will have a passive ability that inspires allied units, boosting their offense and defense, while Koba can fake playfulness, then follow it up with a vicious ambush.

Seriously, a Dawn of the Planet of the Apes real-time strategy game would be amazing. Why has no one made it?

Apes vs. Humans

BADASS

2. The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games will be a survival action-adventure game set in a massive, open world, not unlike 2013’s Tomb Raider reboot.

You play as Katniss Everdeen, a “tribute” in the Hunger Games – a battle royal between teenagers that ends when all but one are dead. But in the arena, you have more than your fellow tributes to worry about. There’s starvation. Traps. And monsters the like of which you’ve never seen before.

The arena itself holds many secrets, such as a cave only reachable via an underwater passage, and storage rooms filled with supplies. The day-night cycle will mean your character will need to sleep – which makes finding shelter a must. As for the other tributes? They’re out there. Waiting. Watching. Stalking.

Blood will be spilt. Alliances will be made and broken. And in the end, only one victor will stand.

Mutiplayer will feature several arenas to choose from, each with a different terrain type and its own unique set dangers. Players can create and customize their own tribute, then enter the Hunger Games along with 23 others – or 47 in a special Quarter Quell mode.

She'll put an arrow through your heart

1. Guardians of the Galaxy

It was a toss up between Marvel’s The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, but in the end, we went with the latter for one reason: it has all the right ingredients to make the next Mass Effect.

In this cover-based third-person shooter RPG, you can control any of the main characters in the movie, such as Star-Lord and Gamora, and those from the comics like Nova. You go into every mission as a three-man squad. Each character has a unique set of skills which they can use in combat. Certain character pairings also have special combo attacks – such as Rocket and Groot.

The game will pattern itself after the movie, but will also boast special missions that take players to planets all over the galaxy – including Earth for some cameos from other heroes in Marvel’s cinematic universe. Non-movie comic book characters will also make special appearances.

It’s strange that no one has even considered making this game, considering it could be one of the best video game movies ever!